Overview
- Apple filed a trade‑secrets complaint in July and on Monday asked a federal judge for a preliminary injunction and expedited discovery to stop OpenAI and two former Apple employees from accessing or using alleged confidential hardware files.
- The complaint alleges ex‑Apple engineer Chang Liu retained company hardware and used an authentication flaw to download files and that former design executive Tang Yew Tan solicited confidential information during recruiting.
- OpenAI responded hours later with a public post titled “Apple is getting this wrong,” publishing redacted emails and iMessages that it says show Apple employees contacted ex‑staff after departure and that some access resulted from residual offboarding permissions.
- Apple told the court it would be irreparably harmed without emergency relief while OpenAI says it does not have and does not want Apple trade secrets and has resisted some proposed forensic inspections of its systems.
- The dispute highlights a wider tension between protecting corporate trade secrets and worker mobility and could affect hiring, supplier work, fundraising and the timetable for any OpenAI consumer device, given OpenAI’s prior hires from Apple and its io Products acquisition.